Well, the 2014 Amgen Tour of California starts in 2 days, and this year both Stage 1 and Stage 2 are practically in my back yard. The buzz of activity around the American River Bike Trail is already increasing; and while I was out walking this morning I may or may not have seen a quartet of pro cyclists fly […]
Soda Bay, Clear Lake, California California Poppies along Highway 20, Lake County Alligator lizard near Lake Natoma, Sacramento County Flowers along the American River Bike Trail near Folsom, California Canada geese in Lake Natoma Wildflowers in Snipes Ravine, Orangevale
… and the Amgen Tour of California! Here’s a few long-overdue photos of the 2012 ATOC, Stage 1. The race passed through the beautiful little town of Monte Rio, on the Russian River. And finally, a few photos of the Sonoma coast — very beautiful in the very last week of 2012. And one of the more interesting sites we’ve seen while driving up and down Highway 1 — or anywhere else, for that matter!
Stage 8: So, Lance had a bad day today, and it certainly looks like his hopes for a podium finish are shattered. Yep. He blew out, hard. From the VeloNews live commentary: The really frustrating moment was atop the climb at Les Gets. It was a weird accident and, from the look on his face, it became readily apparent that it was the final straw for Armstrong. It’s remarkable that he never had a day even remotely like this in his seven-Tour run. He always appeared to have luck on his side – recall the Beloki crash among other moments. As I was following along with today’s stage I thought, Man, Lance NEVER used to fall of the bike! But then I remembered 2003. That was the first year I actually watched the Tour, and it had to be the toughest of Lance’s Tour wins. Not knowing any better at the time, I thought that was the way all Tours were supposed to go. He’d crashed earlier in the Dauphine, and he came into the Tour with stomach problems and hip tendinitis. He suffered on L’Alpe D’Huez, narrowly escaped disaster when Beloki crashed on Stage 9, overheated himself in the Stage 12 time trial, and continued to falter on the next day’s stage. The climax came on the road to Luz-Ardiden, where Armstrong was knocked off his bike by a spectator’s bag and later nearly fell off again when […]
I can hardly believe it’s July already, but we’re a week into the 2010 Tour de France, so it’s time for me to drag myself out from under my rock again and get blogging. This will be my catch-up post, and then hopefully I’ll be able to write more about the Tour next time. I meant to get back earlier […]
I’ve been neglecting the blog lately and neglecting quite a lot of other things too. I don’t want to blog about sad things all the time, but unfortunately these past few months have been full of a lot of sadness for me. In the early morning hours of Monday, April 12th, our most beloved boy, Buster, passed away. He was […]
Both of my “bully gals” are gone now. Gabby and Pinkie — mother and daughter. They had very different personalities, but both were wonderful, sweet dogs and loyal friends. Pinkie was born, along with her 9 brothers and sisters, in our back yard. We hadn’t planned on breeding our dogs. This was our first and only litter. If we could […]
I love autumn. I’m just beginning to realize that this is probably my favorite time of the year, when the heat of the Northern California summer is reluctantly fading away, the mornings are crisp but the afternoons are still tee shirt weather. I can sense the change in the earth’s position to the sun; the light has a different quality […]
I haven’t been here in a long, long time. There’s plenty to write about — I was especially looking forward to sharing my experiences at this year’s Ride for a Reason in early August. I’ll get around to that eventually, but not today. What’s been most on my mind lately is the loss of one of my three dogs. Gabby […]